Who should they get?

It's still, perhaps, a bit of a mystery as to how many free agent starting pitchers the Giants will go for this offseason.

At least one is pretty much certain, as the vibes from the organization at the end of the season towards Brett Tomko seem to indicate he will not be offered a new contract. That isn't the worst thing, although I've dedicated some space in this blog explaining why bringing him back isn't a bad idea, either. Nevertheless, I'll work on the assumption he's gone.

But will the Giants go for another? That would depend on what the team feels about Brad Hennessey, what with the other three rotation spots being locked up by Jason Schmidt, Noah Lowry, and one would hope and assume, Matt Cain.

I'll make it simple, and just list the pitchers that I think would be worth it to go after, and worry about the rest later. I'll also throw in a few other pitchers that I think the Giants may take a look at for various reason, for variety's sake.

Right handers:

1. Matt Morris - I've said this before, but while Morris might just be the most sought after free agent starter out there (making the assumption that pitchers like A.J. Burnett and Kevin Millwood might be out of many teams' price range), he isn't really much better than Brett Tomko. However, on thing I really like about Morris is his k/bb ratio (3.16 for 2005) -- his k rate is middling, but he simply doesn't walk many batters. I wonder about the price tag, though. Morris made about the same as Tomko did last year at 2.5 million, but again, with the dearth of quality starting pitching available, and with the aforementioned Burnett and Millwood liable to command double digits millions, I'm sure Morris will get at least about five million or so per year. In any case, this is the pitcher I think the Giants should go for first and hardest. He ought to fit into the middle of the rotation nicely. And guess what? he just filed for free agency on October 29th, meaning he knows it's unlikely the Cardinals will offer him a new contract.
2. Paul Byrd - Another guy that walks very few batters, Byrd is an interesting possibility. I wonder at how much he'll command dollars/years wise (five million last year), but I doubt it'd be more than Morris. After an up and down career, he seemed to find something with the Royals in 2003, because he's been a decent pitcher since. But perhaps he'll be looking for something multi-year -- those last three season of decent pitching have been done with three different teams. However, a multi-year contract is just what the Giants should avoid with Byrd, not only because of the team situation payroll-wise, but because Byrd will turn 35 this December. If there isn't any other options, though, I suppose a two-year contract wouldn't hurt too much.
3. Jeff Weaver - Pitching-wise, a very good option as well, as long as he comes way down from the large contract he just finished -- likely, but not guaranteed. But really, folks -- if the Giants sign this guy, I'll end up throwing up in my mouth a little. He's a decent pitcher, but I just...don't...want...him.
4. Kevin Brown - Just throwin' this one out there. Brown just can't command too much money or much more than a simple one year contract at 40+ years of age, and coming off two years of sub-par performance and injury-shortened seasons. So...how much would be worth the risk? Two million? I'm mentioning this mostly because I can't help but think Brown, at a lower cost, would be a tempting lure for proven-veteran-hungry Brian Sabean. I don't really consider him much of an option.
5. Jason Johnson - Another one I'm just throwing out there...the only upgrade someone like Johnson is over Tomko is that he's a different pitcher. As a 5th starter, sure, but he isn't even better than Hennessey. But in this free agent market, he's actually one of the better options if one is looking for a 5th starter to eat some innings, which says a lot about the free agent market. Still, not somebody I want to see in a Giants uniform.

Left-handers:

1. Al Leiter - Exact same situation as Brown. Exact. Except that he's a left-hander, of course. And his name is different. But they're both 40, both have Proven Veteran tatooed on their keisters, and Sabes can never have enough old guys.
2. Jamie Moyer - Second verse, same as the first. He signs, I whine. Really, though, can any of us not see Sabean looking hard at all the 40-plus guys, if the price was right? I really want to just predict it right here, that one of the Three Old Amigos in Moyer, Leiter, or Brown will end up in the Giants rotation. But I won't, so don't ask.
3. Really, I'm not going to predict it. I mean, yes, I want to, and it fits with Sabean's pattern of player acquisition from last season, but I'm going to let it go. No more old guy comments for me. Cold turkey. Now. Right now.
4. Kenny Rogers - Must...not...make...comment...about...age. HE'S FORTY! (pant) (pant) Alright, another option that isn't an option. Oh, he pitched very well up until he punked out and bullied a cameraman that was half his size, and he did it in a hitter's park, which was very impressive (the, uh, pitching, not the bullying of the cameraman...ahem), but he's is a punk. Don't want him, at any price.
5. Jerrod Washburn - The first real left-handed option I've mentioned, but Washburn may well prove to be too expensive. He pitched very well in the final year of his contract, and is at an age (31) where he'll probably be looking for at least a three or four year deal.
6. Shawn Estes - Heh, just kidding.

And that does it, folks. Matt Morris, Paul Byrd, and Jerrod Washburn. All the others I mentioned are very old and risky, or just undesirable. As it stands, I'm not sure what the Giants can afford, but I'm making the assumption that Burnett and Millwood are more than what the Giants can afford. Even the three I've mentioned may be looking for more money in total contract dollars rather than a per year basis, but with Byrd this should be avoided.

On a sidenote, is anyone planning to go see the movie Jarhead? I'm thinking about it, but it strikes me as one of those movies that will either be pretty good or very disappointing, without a middle ground. I'm worried most about Jamie Foxx in that supporting role (as a sargeant, I think). He's a very, very good actor, but after the pinnacle of having Ray do so well, in addition to critical acclaim in Collateral, he's made one poor decision already with Stealth, which bombed, and could be on the verge of another with Jarhead. I can just see him overacting in this movie too easily.

And so it Begins...or, er, well, continues, at any rate

Expect the unexpected is an oft-used cliche. A phrase I often amalgamate with that cliche is: set your expectations low, and thus avoid unneccessary disappointments.

I expected Brian "the Brain" Sabean to bring back veteran ballplayers Jason Schmidt and Randy Winn, exercising both players' options for 2006.

What I didn't expect was for Sabes to re-sign veteran Jeff Fassero.

Should I have expected it? Oh, yes, of course. Why did I not do this? Because I held out hope that the Giants GM would have an epiphany of brain activity and realize that while Fassero was uber-useful last season, the Giants cannot reasonably expect him to repeat last year's performance. Reasons?

1. The first reason is broken down into 44 parts, one part for each year of age that Fassero wil have accumulated by Spring Training in 2006.
2. Since 1998, Fassero has had two decent/good seasons: 2001, and 2005. Leading up to 2005, Fassero had been poor for three straight seasons. If the trend is poor for three straight seasons, then all of a sudden turns decent again at 43 years of age, do you really think this last decent season is a harbinger of Fassero's 2006 performance?
3. Overuse. Fassero was used too much last year, and in some games it showed. At his age, I can't help but think similar use in 2006 will lead to time on the DL for the ol' left-hander.

Combatting all this is the slim possibility that the Giants management will use Fassero exclusively as a long man and spot starter out of the bullpen, in which case things might not be too bad. But with Father Alou, he who is inficted with the rare disease, Usus Too Muchus Bullpenitis, this is a longshot. Fassero will likely find himself pitching well-nigh 100 innings again next year in a myriad of roles, straining his arm to the breaking point again.

While I'd still have rather seen Sabean thank the stars he got as much out of Fassero as he did last season and cut bait on Fassero while the memories were good, if they can keep the old dude down to about 50-60 innings, it could work out.

But you know what they say about expectations...

The White Sox are world champions...

...and I have the most excruciating pain in my side. Given a choice of which one I could handle easier, it'd be the pain in my side by a landslide.

It's not that I'm not...happy...for the White Sox -- if at least one defines happy as the same feeling as being told you've won 100 million dollars, only to be told afterwards that to keep the money you had to go celibate for the rest of your life -- I mean, I'm sure they worked hard for their championship, blood, sweat, tears (mostly mine as they got closer), etc.

But, well, perhaps it's my continued agony in Royals fandom, and that 90% of my interaction with White Sox fans as a Royals fan have been...poor...and that the same 90% of interaction with those White Sox fans had to have been the most unintellectual pieces of conversation I've ever had the displeasure of having.

Perhaps it's the North Side/South Side hype that has gotten to me, and the White Sox's perceived persona -- bad guys, wearing black, rowdy fans, their stadium of U.S. Cellular One that's nicknamed "the Cell" -- that put them on my short list of Most Hated Baseball Franchises.

Maybe it's the fact that they picked up Dustin Hermanson, and got a lot of very good relief pitching out of him that could have been to the Giants' benefit early in the 2005 season, had they re-signed him. Maybe it's picking up "Double Play" A.J. Pierzynski, and having that rat bastard on their team while they won a World Series, with him taking center stage in the LCS against the Angels with his "savvy" play on that strikeout, running to 1st base after the caught strikeout pitch was rolled away (it was savvy, and it was smart, but it's smart and savvy like running all the way around the bases on a close but obvious foul ball, just in case the umps change their minds -- yeah, you're smart and savvy, but there's still no way you should get away with it).

Or, finally, maybe it's watching the first two games of the Series and realizing how flawed the Astros were, and thinking that despite the fact that they outplayed the Cardinals in the LCS and deserved to go to the World Series, that the Cardinals would've matched up much better than they did to Chicago. I mean, there's no way that the Cardinals would've allowed the White Sox to walk them 12 times in a game and not win. Albert Pujols, by himself, would've driven in more runs than the Astros scored in that game.

But this in no way hampers my ability to see what the White Sox are; a very good team that was simply better than every team they played against in the postseason. You don't whip through October only losing one game for nothing. Whatever Ozzie Guillen is doing, I hope some of it rubs off on Felipe Alou and Buddy Bell.

Jazz for that...nether region of the rear end area

Smooth...

Yes, very smooth. I was recently treated to a jazz show at Jack London Square in Oakland by my Pops, at Yoshi's Japanese restaurant and jazz house this past weekend. The show starred some well-known names in the jazz circle: Christian McBride (String Bass), John Clayton (string bass), Russell Malone (guitar), Greg Hutchinson (drums), and last but definitely not least, Benny Green from Berkeley (piano).

Now, as a few of you may know by the names involved, this is not modern jazz, something which is nice, but to me a bit lacking in personality. No, this was classic jazz, all in tribute to string bassist Ray Brown, who passed away about three years ago and whose birthday was on the 14th of October.

The show was incredible. All of the musicians knew each other, and have played together in some capacity before, a couple of whom have played together extensively. The common thread was Mr. Ray Brown, and the fact that all the musicians were either pupils of Brown, or had played with him many times before (they called it "graduating from the Ray Brown school").

Imagine a reknowned guitarist like Russell Malone cocking his head curiously as the Amtrack train rolled by, causing a bit of feedback. Turning to pianist Benny Green (on this particular song it was only the two of them), he shot him a look of inquiry (and all of this while both men are still hitting every note). Green shrugs his shoulders, smiling in amusement. Malone stops playing briefly to reach over and pound his amplifier with a fist, shoots the audience a little smile (his smiles were rare, but golden), and continues right where he left off, right back into the rhythm like nothing ever happened.

Imagine Christian McBride and John Clayton doing a little SuperBass competition at the start of the show, both men's hands flying over the string effortlessly, playing the entire instrument from top to bottom. Playing a game of "Can you top this?", McBride finally cuts loose a simply nasty and unmatchable string of chords, both hands weaving a blurry pattern of music. After he finally stops, Clayton, watching all of this with a huge grin, simply reaches down to his bass and plucks about three amusing chords, shrugs, and says, "That's about all I can do after that."

Imagine Greg Hutchinson, simply keeping pace for most of the show...that is, until the drum solos where he went ballistic, dredlocks twirling in unison, and his wrists putting out percussion like a man possessed. All the other musicians would simply watch, or in the case of Benny Green and Russell Malone, turn fully around so that they could watch the man do what he was born to do.

The ad-libs the musicians put on were two parts inspired and two parts hilarious. I saw the show twice, and while they didn't replay any songs from the first to the second show, if you paid attention you could tell where a player would throw in a little wrinkle into the music. An extra little smile here, a wink there, a short laugh, a quiet exclamation of "Alright now", or "Mmm hm!" was all that was needed to confirm that these guys had no need or no desire to do it all by the numbers -- they are masters of their instruments and the music, and they could play the same song a hundred different ways if they wanted. Malone put on the funniest one, throwing in three quick funky strums at the end of one of his solos, turning and looking back at the McBride and Clayton on the bass. McBride returned the look with a head shake and a grin, and Malone shrugs, turned back to the audience, and favored us with a wink and a smile.

Inbetween songs, they told stories of Ray Brown and how he influenced them in their careers. During songs, they smiled and told stories with their hands and fingers. At both times, we in the audience listened with rapt attention, and ready applause. I've never listened to a jazz show before, yet I instinctively knew when a solo was over, and knew when it was worthy of audible appreciation (as it so happened, that was every, single time a solo was over).

All in all, I would have to say I was most impressed with Benny Green, the local product. The only White guy in the band, he showed that he has more than enough soul to play this music. Short, slim, with hair hanging just below his ears, he spoke just like he looked -- the ultimate cool cat. He'd often turn 3/4th of the way away from the piano, while playing, to look at one of the string bassists, Malone on the guitar, or Hutchinson on the drums, never missing a key. When he wasn't playing, he was at ease. When he was playing, he was just stupid good.

To summarize, if you aren't into classic jazz at all, then Yoshi's is a good place to check it out, as they constantly have shows there. If you are into classic jazz, but haven't heard much of the music of the musicians I've been mentioning, then you need to acquire some. I myself don't have any, but I got the hook-up, with Pops on the job burning me copious amounts of the stuff to peruse at my leisure.

If you don't have hook-up, well, then get yourself hooked-up.

White Sox, Astros, AJ, and Darth Ozzie

Thought I'd chime in on the LCS while Daniel is busy finding a job (good luck, man!).

I've temporarily deactivated my Insta-Boycott of Fox TV and watched all of the LCS games broadcast on free TV (I'm one of those weirdos who refuses to pay for cable). My pathetic attempts to apply all I've learned this season into meaningful predictions over on Small Ball have done only one thing: made me look incredibly stupid. That doesn't mean I'm not having fun.

When the White Sox blew through their series with the Angels, I was regularly on the horn with my peeps in Chicago, people I knew during the 7 years I lived there. I wondered if Fox's representation of the explosive celebrations was accurate (questioning Fox's accuracy is, like baseball, a national pasttime). I was pleased though not shocked to learn that the fervor for White Sox successes isn't quite as pandemic as Fox would have you believe. The traditional north-side/south-side tension between Cubs fans and White Sox fans is in full force. The Cubs, for reasons no one really understands, evoke a frenzy of loyalty that makes religious fundamentalists look like lazy non-believers. White Sox fans, on the other hand, appear as if summoned by magic whenever the White Sox seem to be doing well.

My favorite TV moment occured in a nondescript Chicago sports bar the night the Sox took the pennant. While the cameras lingered on girls gone wild and drunk guys hootin' and hollerin', one guy in the background who was wearing a White Sox cap tore it off when he saw the lights and cameras pointing in his general direction, and replaced it with a Cubs cap. That hilarious gesture revealed so many things. As my friends have confirmed, Cubs fans who want some--any--gratification this year are throwing their dashed hopes in the White Sox's ring so they at least can say they live in a championship city. Which makes me wonder what that very same bar scene would have looked like if the Cubs and Sox positions were reversed. Would it be empty because the White Sox were out of the picture? Would the exact same patrons be there, wearing Cubbie colors instead? At what point in a 2-team city do the fans of one team throw up their arms and hitch to the other team's wagon? Even I'll admit that for about three weeks this season, I was an As fan (don't disparage me...what else did I have to root for?)

I found the ALCS monumentally boring. There's no there there. Rooting for the White Sox is like rooting for Chevron or Dell Computers. I found in my heart a little California lovin' for the Angels, but that was an empty, callous love fueled only by my desire to see the Sox fail.

The NLCS? Now, that's some baseball. Exciting at nearly every turn, with heroes and villains out of the best pulp fiction. My mom and I were talking about the differences between the National and American Leagues. Why, I asked, does she, like I do, feel so strongly about NL teams, but nearly nothing for AL teams? She said she always felt like a participant in the goings on of the National League, and simply a spectator for "that other" league. So, it's entirely possible that my fascination with the Cardinals/Astros struggle and my indifference to the Angels/White Sox struggle boils down to a matter of what feels warm and toasty to me.

The Astros and Cardinals, although I'm not a fan of either, are kind of warm and toasty.

Last night's gut-wrenching turn of events for the Astros was better than anything Hollywood can pump out under the auspices of drama. Two three-run homers, one by each team late in the game, turned the contest into an offensive tennis tournament. Astros were down by a run, then up by two, then down by one again too late to get back up again. As I sat there stuffing my face with chocolates, I realized after the Pujols homer in the top of the ninth that, yeah, it's cool that St. Louis won, although I would have prefered to see Houston win. And saying that is more excruciating than I have time to describe.

So, here we are. White Sox going to the World Series. White Sox probably winning the World Series. More Cubs fans masquerading as Sox fans turning into deluxe girls and guys gone wild. Two Curse Reverses in a row. The return of baseball might to the midwest. Ozzie Guillen for governor. AJ Piersomething-something's ego seen floating over Lake Michigan on a collision course with the John Hancock building.

Or...

Or they could lose. And wouldn't that be warm and toasty?

Quick Note

Just saying hello to everyone, and that my reason for abusing the blog is really just a time issue. I've been attempting to change jobs for a while, but it's picked up in the last couple of weeks with a couple of interviews, 2nd interviews, and those lovely assessment tests.

Assessment tests, you ask? Well, you know, they're like psyche tests -- you answer 350 multiple choice questions, many of which ask you the same general question as a bunch of other questions, only worded differently. For example:

1. I have no problem speaking in front of a large group of people.

A) Agree, B) ?, C) Disagree

50. I was always shy as a child.

A) Agree, B) ?, C) Disagree

147. I don't have any reservations in speaking to a total stranger.

A) Agree, B) ?, C) Disagree

You know, something like that. I took two tests on Thursday, the first of which actually was about 360 questions long and multiple choice, and the second of which was about 150 questions long and true/false. I told my interviewer that if they offer me the job, I'll consult them before making my decision, because after reviewing those tests they'll know more about me than I do myself.

So, in any case, these things have left me feeling a little down on writing on a daily basis, hence the 11-day gap between entries. While I'm not going to do anything everyday until at least after the new year begins (and the winter meetings have finished and some new things are happening), I do at least want to do a couple/few per week.

As far as the playoff races go...at least the Yankees are out of it, but the White Sox are still around, and now have a chance to win a World Series, which'll probably make me vomit as soon as the final out is recorded...check that, I'll vomit if they even come within one game of winning it.

With Houston up three games to one, it looks like they're my only hope of not chalking up 2005 as one of my worst baseball season ever as a fan. Both the Giants and Royals were poor (the Royals being absolutely horrible) and...the White Sox as World Series champs?

Let me just stick hot pokers in my eyes now, rather than endure that pain later.

Somebody excorcise these demons!

A stupid, stupid thought has taken root in my brain and found the soil fertile and rich. It has grown and flourished, this thought, to the point where I am actually typing it out to post on my blog, where anywhere from 60 to 120 people per day will be able to ascertain how much of an idiot I am.

I'm warning you, it's really dumb. I am in no way suggesting that I think it should happen, but I'm entertaining the notion that it could happen.

The Philadelphia Phillies have a 3rd baseman in David Bell who made 4.7 million in 2005 to hit a crappy .248/.310/.361 and play acceptable defense at 3rd base.

The San Francisco Giants have a 3rd baseman in Edgardo Alfonzo who made about 7 million in 2005 to hit a crappy .277/.327/.345 and play acceptable defense at 3rd base.

No, no, NO! I'm not suggesting a swap. What I'm suggesting is that both players are paid a large amount of money to suck a lot, and thus have initiated an extreme desire on the part of the ball clubs that pay them to get rid of them in any way they can.

The Phillies have another contract on their hands that is large, has turned horrible, and probably makes the Phillies want to get rid of it -- Jim Thome's contract. He was paid 13 million + to be injured most of the year, and suck something fierce when he did play.

Do you think that Brian Sabean would gamble and trade Alfonzo for Thome? I don't know if this could be done straight up, but I actually think it could be, given that Thome's a larger waste of money at this point than Fonzie is, although he has obviously had a much better career -- in other words, Thome's a much larger risk/gamble to take, which makes me think that a straight-up trade involving those two could be done.

Thome's old, old, but his dropoff in production this year is nothing short of astounding. No middle ground, no gradual loss of skill -- it all hit rock bottom, baby. Which may lead somebody like Sabes to think that it was a fluke (even I think there's got to be some fluke in that big of a dropoff), and perhaps want to give Thome a whirl -- with the caveat that he could get rid of one of his problem children in Alfonzo.

Like I said, it's pretty stupid from about eleventy-seven angles, but for some reason the thought that it would be an alluring option for Sabes has grabbed ahold of my imagination. Just remember, if something like that happens, you heard it here first. If it comes nowhere close to even being a smidgen in the general vicinity of eventually gravitating towards the miniscule germ of an intention, then you've never heard of me, and in fact, my name is Mortimer Bartholomew, and I run a horticulture blog, not a baseball blog.

So, I'm lazy...you act like that's bad or something.

Just dropping in to say I'll be doing some heavy-duty stuff over this weekend, as I have Friday through Sunday off. What kind of heavy-duty stuff, you ask?

The kind that tries to figure out which free-agent starting pitcher the Giants should go for (since from all I've heard, it seems Brett Tomko definitely ain't coming back), and tries to figure out how next year lineup should be contructed, since it looks like the team will largely remain intact as far as position players.

I'd also like to extend a tip of my cap to Joe Giovannetti over at Giants Cove for plugging a couple of pieces of work I did on Randy Winn and Brett Tomko on one of his pieces on the site.

It also seems congratulations are in order, as a sports website called Deadspin has ranked the top three Giants blogs, and Joe and Nick Cannata-Bowman took 2nd -- just in front of Grant at McCovey Chronicles, and just behind John Perricone over at Only Baseball Matters. If I had my druthers (normally I do have them, but I lost my druthers just the other day -- I blame the hole in my pants pocket), I would have found a way to include Lefty and Anthony, but last I checked I wasn't the one who put that article together for Deadspin. Plus, putting together an article on the top three Giants blogs while including five probably isn't the best way to do things.

But I'd have done it anyway.

And oddly, I didn't get a mention as the best Giants blog whose writer also like the Kansas City Royals, which ought to have come up somewhere. I mean, where's my sympathy vote? It's all rigged, I tell ya.

BTW, Deadspin also ranked the top three Royals blogs, however, either it wasn't the same writer as the one who ranked the Giants blogs, or it was the same writer and he suffered a brief fit of stupidity. None of my favorites were on his list, and one of the ones on his list was Rob Neyer's site, which is in no way a Royals blog -- Neyer and Rany Jayzareli exchange e-mails about the club about twice a month and put it on the site, which doesn't, to me, qualify it for anything. I also disagree with his selection for first place (kind of like a nuclear bomb disagrees with all life surrounding its blast), but I won't mention any names or reasons -- ambiguity is the word for today, boys and girls.

Goodnight sweetheart, well, it's time to go...

Last game, Giants. Let's end the season on a winning, note, alright?

See? This is what I mean

Next year, they gotta see what I'm talking about.

Randy Winn had better not lead off, for the same reasons that Ray Durham doesn't lead off anymore -- if the Giants want to believe that a good portion of the pop Winn is displaying is for real (some of it is) and that Winn will continue to be an extra-base machine next season, then they have to put him into a position where he'll be able to drive in some runs. Leading off, especially for a National League team, isn't going to cut it.

Lemme show you why this is. Winn has hit 14 home runs for the Giants, including the two he hit last night. The breakdown of how many he drove in with those round-trippers go like this:

Solo - 12
2R - 2
3R - 0
GS - 0

You can't hit all multi-run shots when you hit a home run, of course, but don't you think having 12 of your 14 total home runs be solo shots is a bit of a waste, not to mention the two that aren't be of the two-run variety?

The Giants' offense is still pretty poor without Barry Bonds, of course, but the Giants burying their best hitter over the last couple of months in the leadoff spot just because he's a "leadoff-type hitter" is asinine, and it cost the Giants runs, and perhaps victories (two of the three losses in games where Winn homered were by one run, and the other was by two runs).

This does not include doubles and triples, which are perfectly capable of scoring men on-base as well. But when you have the pitcher's spot and a guy in Mike Matheny who, at best, runs a .300 on-base percentage (and isn't exactly fleet of foot on the basepaths, either), there just aren't going to be many ducks on the pond for Winn to drive in if he happens to hit a double, triple, or home run, something he's done with great frequency since joining the club. Again, the Giants, through ignorance of common sense, have left a lot of runs out there unscored.

Old dog Father Alou, please learn a new trick next year. Just because he's supposed to be your leadoff hitter doesn't mean you have to bat him leadoff all the time (you seemed to learn this with Ray Durham) -- let Omar Vizquel handle that, and you can bat Winn 2nd, or even 5th, since Winn and Durham seem fairly similar hitters, especially from the left side.